He got the sign so he jumped a bus Along the roads that wind on The hot Mojave and the He'd start his whole life And what he left he hadn't valued Half as much as some He never Right sundown... He got dropped off on a in town Where a grey old man him up and down and said "Son, ain't no western movie matinee You're a long way off from 'Cause I can tell at a glance you're not from these parts You've got a green look about'chathat's a for starts Sometimes the only thing a western understands Are whiskey and and an unarmed man you" "So you keep on the move! let that fancy paint job fool you!" Then the old pulled him close and said You've got a way, I know You've got a longer ahead the bones of the buffalo Through the claims of the dead, and like the spokes of a wheel You'll spin 'round the rest You'll hear the and the brush of steel You'll hear the call of the west, of the west You'll the call of the west, call of the west Harshly awakened by the sound of six rounds of light-caliber rifle Followed minutes later by the booming of rounds from a heavier rifle But you can't close off the He heard the snick of a bolt And himself peering down the muzzle Of a weapon held by a drunken liquor store "There's a conflict," he said, "there's a Between land and The people to go They've come all the way out here to mining claims To do automobile work To pictures To not have to do To own a Have own CB radios and air conditioning plumbing for sure And to Time/Life books and to work in a deli To have a little every morning And maybe... maybe to own own gas stations again And take Have some sex But all, above all, to have a fair shake To get a piece of the rock and a of the pie And spit out of the window of your car and not have the wind blow it back in face" Now, the high timberline to the deserts dry Who'll risk dangling on some tree To stake claims on these prarie plains While say this lunch is not had for free? Just like the spokes of a Who'll spin with the rest They'll the drums and the brush of steel And I'll hear the call of the west, of the west (Yippie-yi-yo, yippie-yi-yo-ki-yay, yippie-yi-yo-ohh-ohh) hear the call of the west, call of the west (Yippie-yi-yo, yippie-yi-yo-ki-yay, yippie-yi-yo-ohh-ohh) I'll hear the call of the west, of the west (Yippie-yi-yo, yippie-yi-yo-ki-yay, yippie-yi-yo-ohh-ohh) I'll hear the call of the west, call of the (Yippie-yi-yo, yippie-yi-yo-ki-yay, yippie-yi-yo-ohh-ohh) I to be somebody! I used to be somebody, do you me? Do you hear me? been there! I used to be somebody, god you! I've been before! walk away! Well, wanted unleaded? next pump over, so keep on movin', okay? No, out of order.